Togo: Remittances from diaspora reached nearly 9% of GDP in 2017

Finance

Friday, 27 April 2018 15:37

(Togo First) - Remittances from Togolese diaspora to their relatives and friends at home were at 8.7% of the country’s gross domestic product by the end of 2017, a report released by World Bank April 22, 2018, reveals.

Proportionally to GDP, Togo was the seventh country to have received the most funds from its diaspora in the sub-Saharan African region. It comes ahead of nations like Mali (6.9% of GDP), or even Nigeria (5.6%) which captured the most remittances in Africa and is the fifth worldwide in this regard, with more than $22 billion received in 2017.

According to World Bank’s report entitled “Migration and Remittances: Recent developments and Outlook”, money transfers to sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are the most expensive worldwide (cost about 29% more than global average).

The document highlights that West Africa captured a significant portion of the remittances in SSA. Indeed, based on GDP, eight countries of the region are found in the top 10 of countries that received most funds from their diaspora in sub-Saharan Africa. These are Liberia, The Gambia, Senegal, Cape Verde, Togo, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Nigeria.

In regards to the volume of transfers captured also, West Africa also had a strong presence with Nigeria ($22 billion), Ghana ($2.2 billion) and Senegal ($2.2 billion) leading the race. In this top 10, Mali ($1 billion), Liberia ($0.6 billion) and Burkina Faso ($0.4 billion) which are all in West African are also listed.